Improvement in removing spikes from guns



UNITED STATES PATnNT Uri-Ionio AUGUSTUS LAFEVER, OF BATTLE CREEK,MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN REMOVING SPIKES FROM GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,05 L dated September22, 1863.

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS LAFEVER, of Battle Creek, in the county ofCalhoun, in the State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Modeand Machine for Unspiking Guns; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full and exact description thereof, reference .being hadto the accompanying drawings, and

. mode or process of unspiking guns by means of an annular bit whichdrills around the spike, leaving it as a core, until the spike isdrilled free, or exposed sufficiently to admit of being grasped anddrawn out; also, in the construction and operation of the adjustableframe which supports and guides the bit; also, in the combination andarrangement of the self-adjusting socket with the adjustable plate, soas to drill at any desired angle.

In the drawings, A A represent the adjust.- able frame. This frameconsists of a strong base-plate curved so as to saddle the gun, and ishinged in the center at a, so as to be adapted to guns of differentsizes. The arms of the frame, which are pivoted at their lower ends byscrew-bolts b and pin c, are secured at their upper ends to a plate orbracket by means of screw-bolts d, the base-plate, arms or standards,and bracket-plate together composing what I term the adjustable frameA.77 ecare metallic straps pivoted to the base-plate. They are providedwith lugs ff, through which pass the tension screw-hooks g g. A datchain, h, of suitable strength, is passed around the gun and caught bythe hooks g. This device is applicable to all kinds of drilling.

B is the adjustable plate which guides and supports the drill-socket,and is secured in the desired position by means of the clampingset-screw i, which clamps it against the bracket-plate.

C is the self-adjusting socket, which is supported by its neck, whichworks loosely in a collar, o, ofthe plate B. The neck ofthe socket C isprovided with a bead or pin to keep it from falling out of the collar,in which it plays so freely as to be adjusted to any desired angle ordirection.

m is the hollow feed-screw, through which the stem of the bit freelypasses. This screw works in the socket C, (see Fig. 3,) and is providedwith radiating arms for operating it with the left hand.

It will be noticed that the stem of the bit D is pierced with a numberof holes at short intervals apart. These holes are for the insertion ofthe pin n, which supports the fixed and movable washers s, upon whichthe lower part of the feed-screw presses in order to feed the bitdownward as it cuts.

D is the bit. It will be seen that this is a hollow or annular rose-bitprovided with spi- .ral grooves for feeding out the chips.

In the operation of my invention I place the saddle or base-plate A uponthe gun, over the spike, and pass the chain around the gun, and securethe frame to the gun as tightly as possible by means of the tensionscrew-hooks g g. The frameis then adjusted, and the screwbolts b and dare tightened. The bit is then placed over the spike, if it project, (ifnot, a conntersunk holeis made to guide the bit at the start, and theclamping-screw t' is loosened,

so as to admit of the adjustment of the upper end of the bit-stem to anydesired angle, asindicated by red lines in Fig. 3. Screw z' is thentightened, and the plate B is rmly clamped to the frame. I now revolvethe cutter or bit by means of a driving-crank upon its upper end, at thesame time feeding the bit downward by means of the feed-screw m, whichis operated by the left hand.

Y The common and most effective mode of spiking or disabling cannons isto drive tightly into the touch-hole a rat-tail file of the hardeststeel. This mode is so perfectly effective that guns thus spiked arefrequently provided with a new vent. There is not now in use any simple,rapid, and effective means for removing a spike of this kind when driventightly into a tapered touch-hole, for it has been found mpossible toremove such spikes by the ordinary drill, for the ile is at least ashard as the drill,

-or by driving them into the gun, or by blowing them out.

It is now a common practice, in making cannous, to provide them with abusl1,77 in which the touch-hole is drilled. In View of this fact, I usea bit of the usual diameter of a bush,

-(about one inch,) and after the hole is drilled and the spike removed abush is let in in the usual manner, and the gun is as good as before it.was. .spjkerLt V4It. V4will seldom be necessaryY t0 drill more than aninch or two in order to enable me to get a grasp upon the spikesufficient to draw it out.

I do not broadly claim an annular bit as new of itself7 for I am awarethat such a bit has AUGUSTUS LAFEVER. Witnesses: f

OLIVER COX,

Jo. C. CLAYTON.

